What is in Your Pouch? – NYSC Camp Gist

If you are constrained to having all your primary daily necessities in just a small waist pouch (mind you a waist pouch, not a handbag). Imagine how hard selecting the contents will be, especially for ladies :D. For the three weeks, I was subjected to such a life. I had soldiers chasing me out of my room at 4:30 am to move out for meditation, drills and parade. That will run for about 4 hours with no chance of returning to pick something in between these hours.

So I have to get all I will need in the small space around my waist. My waist pouch most times house my phones, phone chargers(no power in our rooms), gums and candies, a pen, my sim card, a roll of tissue or a handkerchief, my meal ticket, few folded camp documents, ID card and most importantly cash and that’s pretty all. But for others, it may be a pretty hard decision to make some ladies want to carry their whole make-up kit. A bottle of water, comb, wristwatch (as we are not permitted to wear them on camp) etc. The list is endless, I even heard of waist pouch of condoms and weed, for which more items become more burden to carry.

The same goes with life, we carry a virtual or mental waist pouch every day. Right from your waking moment till we fall back into bed every night. Bearing our thoughts, emotions, daily-to-do-list and on and on. As much as it can be a great asset. It can also be a great burden depending on its contents, worries, anxieties fears and the likes. How heavy is your mental-pouch? Hope it has not become a burden, a weight you carry about just like a lady with the whole of her make up kit, Samsung Galaxy S4, Blackberry Z10 and Nokia Asha double sim, hand sanitiser, tissue paper, sanitary pad and wallet in hers will be definitely dragged behind during in the parade line or morning jogging or endurance trek.

You properly wonder why your day is just slow. You just have no motivation or drive to live, you are just down. Sometimes you don’t know why. Maybe because your mind is just troubled or burdened by a thing or the other and sometimes you just don’t know why, all you know is that you are not just in the mood. Your mental pouch probably needs a review, what is in your pouch? Believe me, you will find out that those things that weigh you down are just “unnecessary excesses”. Things you can do without, a thing that might look important but if you really consider the journey you have to leave those things behind.

Take the advice from Heb 12:1 “So then let’s also run the race that is laid out in front of us… Let’s throw off any extra baggage(every weight)…” Lay off the burden, let go of the weight, trust me, they are unnecessary. You may think they are, like for instance, you are worried about your business going bankrupt or sick child. Ask yourself, how many of it can you fix by yourself or ability, of course, none of them. So like the next verse of the scripture above; Look on to Jesus (Heb 12:2). Look on to Jesus, Jesus said: “come to me all you that labour and burdened with care and he will give you rest”. In other words, He, saying, let me carry the entire pouch for you, so you will walk free.